Future Fifty Alumni

Future Fifty Advisory Panel

Robin joined the London office of Index Ventures in April 2010 as a Venture Partner. He is a founding partner of The Accelerator Group, a seed investment company specialising in e-commerce, digital media and Internet services.

He is currently Chairman of Moo and MyBuilder and sits on the boards of EDITD, Farfetch, FreeAgent, OneFineStay, Skimlinks and Zoopla.

Robin has 25 years of operating experience, 20 years of which as entrepreneur and 14 years of investing experience and he has been on the boards of three publicly quoted companies. In his last operating role as Chairman and CEO of Innovations, he conducted the very first UK ecommerce transaction in May 1995.

Nezahat has over 15 years of technology sector experience in Silicon Valley and Europe. She was a founding member and has been instrumental in building the Future Fifty Programme

She spearheaded Credit Suisse’s Software, Fintech and Internet franchise for EMEA and was previously at Nomura, Lehman Brothers and Broadview, advising technology companies and investors across the globe on M&A, IPOs, LBOs, and various forms of financing

Nezahat has MS in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar and BS in Industrial Engineering from Middle East Technical University

Paul Harrison is Chief Financial Officer at WANdisco plc. Prior to joining WANdisco in September 2013, Paul spent over 16 years with The Sage Group plc; the UK’s largest software business and a member of the FTSE 100. Paul joined Sage in 1997 becoming its CFO in 2000

Paul is also a non-executive director of Hays plc; one of the world’s largest specialist recruiters. He joined Hays in 2007 becoming its Senior Independent Director in 2011

He also chairs Hays’ Remuneration Committee. A chartered accountant, Paul’s earlier career was spent in professional practice latterly with PwC where Paul was a Senior Manager

Stephen Welton is Chief Executive of Business Growth Fund plc (“BGF”), which he launched in May 2011. Stephen is responsible for overall strategy and day-to-day management of BGF, as well as chairing the Investment Committee

He has over 20 years of experience in the development capital and private equity industry with Henderson, Barclays and JP Morgan Partners (CCMP Capital), where he was a Founder Partner and member of the Investment Committee

In January 2013, Stephen joined the Advisory Group formed specifically to guide the UK Government on the direction and priorities of the proposed new Business Bank

Kevin Walsh is the Managing Partner of Deloitte’s Technology Consulting Practice. He has a track record in advising on and implementing technologies to support business change, increase business performance and improve governance

He has procured, designed, developed and delivered complex transformation programmes for over 20 years

At Deloitte Kevin is responsible for the leadership and development of a portfolio of technology businesses with capabilities from technology strategy through to systems development and integration

Gregor Pryor is a partner and digital media specialist and leads the Media and Technology team at international law firm, Reed Smith

He has broad experience of advising clients concerning the acquisition, production, licensing and distribution of content on digital media networks and platforms. He regularly advises companies involved in the distribution and sale of digital content as well as content owners regarding the protection and exploitation of their intellectual property rights

In acknowledgement of his work in the digital media sector, Gregor has been listed twice in the “Top 100 Most Influential People in Digital Media” in Wired magazine

Christian has over 16 years of operating experience in technology companies, developing and scaling products and businesses internationally

Prior to co-founding White Star Capital, Christian worked at Facebook and led the international expansion of the company’s Business Development, Platform and Gaming Partnerships groups

He previously held leadership roles in the U.S. and Europe at Google and Microsoft and started his career in technology at MicroStrategy, a startup he joined prior to its 1999 IPO. He also serves on the Board of Advisors of Seedcamp and the Digital Task Force for the EVCA

Jonathan Goodwin founded Lepe Partners, a merchant bank created to help entrepreneurs and CEOs in the media, consumer and Internet sectors grow their businesses

Prior to founding Lepe, Jonathan was CEO and Co-founder of LongAcre Partners, where he built the company into Europe’s leading mid-market media and corporate finance house prior to selling it to Jeffries in 2007. To date, Jonathan has advised on over 100 transactions in the media and Internet Space worth over $20bn in total

In 2005, Jonathan created the Founders Forum, along with Brent Hoberman. The Founders Forum is the premier entrepreneur’s event held annually in London, New York, Brazil and India. He is also President of the British Fashion Council Investment Pillar, Treasurer of Centre for Policy Studies, and Chairman of Osborne House appeal

A graduate of Harvard University, Sonali De Rycker is a partner at Accel Partners who has been active in the European venture business for 14 years focusing on investments in the consumer internet and digital media sectors

Sonali started her career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in New York City where she was actively involved in M&A and financings for a number of clients including many high-growth technology businesses

While at Goldman Sachs, Sonali co-founded the Business Development Group, a new business unit within the investment banking division successfully set up to exclusively source and execute on acquisitions of smaller, fast-growing businesses for the Fortune 50

Nick qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG in Nottingham. After qualification Nick worked out of the Manchester office in transaction services and within the Strategic Business Management Group

Nick moved to Matalan in 1999 to work as Head of Finance. He then became the Business Change and IT Director before joining Matalan’s Retail Board in 2003. Nick joined the Luminar Board as Finance Director in August 2005

He was appointed Finance Director of ASOS Plc in April 2009, and now holds the title of Chief Financial Officer

Suranga founded blinkx, the intelligent search engine for video and audio content in Cambridge in 2004 and joined Balderton as a General Partner in 2014

Suranga has a MA in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge. He holds patents in the area of video discovery and online video advertising, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2012 and was chosen as one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders in 2009

Before founding blinkx, Suranga was an early employee at Autonomy Corporation – joining as an engineer in the Cambridge R&D team and ultimately serving as the company’s US CTO in San Francisco

Keith has led strategy and execution in digital and technology businesses since the 1990’s

He has led digital business strategy initiatives at businesses including Microsoft, Standard Bank, Omnicom/TBWA, Truphone and Mimecast

Keith works with businesses as an executive or non executive director, advisor and/or investor, spending 20% of his time supporting start-ups and accelerators, including Entrepreneur First, Seedcamp, and London Tech Advocates

Antony Clavel is an investor at Summit Partners, a growth equity firm that has raised nearly $15 billion in capital.

Prior to joining Summit Partners, Antony spent eight years at advisory firm Allen & Company, where he advised US and European high-growth technology entrepreneurs on over 20 M&A and capital-raising transactions.

Antony is a Swiss national and holds a BA in Mathematics from Oxford University with First Class Honours and an SM in Computer Science from Harvard University.

Andy is a non-executive partner at Invoke Capital Partners, where he sits on the board of Darktrace, Sophia Genetics and Luminace. Andy was Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of Autonomy for twelve years, where he led its global legal and operations divisions and oversaw all major acquisitions and transactions.

A qualified lawyer, Andy was previously an attorney in private practice in San Francisco and London, specialising in venture capital, international M&A and corporate finance.

Andy also served as Clerk of Hon. Christine Miller of the US Court of Federal Claims, Washington D.C. He holds a J.D. from the University of Southern California Law Center and a BA from John Hopkins University.